Chris Moyles facing axe from Radio 1 breakfast show... and could be replaced by his pal Vernon Kay

Chris Moyles’ reign over the airwaves could end next year in the face of plummeting listeners, the Daily Mail has learnt.

The loud-mouth DJ, who lures seven million listeners to the Radio 1 breakfast show every week, is said to be poised to leave his show in July, when his one-year £494,000 deal comes up for renewal.

Television presenter Vernon Kay, who hosts All Star Family Fortunes for ITV as well as fronting his own Radio 1 show on Saturday, is now seen as the favourite to replace Moyles, 35, who has courted controversy throughout his five-year stint on the breakfast show.

The news comes as it was revealed last week that Moyles’ show, which currently has 7.04 million listeners, saw a drop of almost 700,000 the last quarter.

Mr Kay’s agents are already believed to have been approached and a BBC source said: 'Vernon is extremely popular and the radio bosses love him, no formal offer has been put in yet – there’s still seven months left on Moyles’ deal after all – but he is definitely in the frame.'

Another senior BBC radio source said: 'Moyles is still the saviour of Radio One, but he will go sooner rather than later.

'But it works both ways, he only signed a one-year extension deal as he didn’t want to be tied down, he wanted the freedom to move on.'

Throughout his time at Radio 1, Moyles has been at the centre of a number of controversies following comments made on his show.

Pals: Chris could find his replacement to be his friend Vernon Kay

Earlier this year, Chris Moyles was criticised after making a joke about Auschwitz in relation to his appearance on Who Do You Think You Are?

Last year, Moyles was forced to apologise for appearing to suggest on his Radio 1 show that Poles make good prostitutes.

In 2006, Ofcom issued a warning to the BBC after three outbursts in a month. In one he referred to women as 'dirty whores' and, weeks later, used two four-letter words.

He also told a phone-in contestant on his breakfast show that her children were '****ing brats' because they were making too much noise.

In 2002, he offered to take the virginity of Charlotte Church when she became 16. Last year he was accused by academics of being part of a DJ culture that celebrated excessive drinking.

Chris said he wanted to stay at the station, based at Yalding House in London, and took a pay cut to ride out the recession

It was revealed that Moyles was paid £630,000 in 2007, however the radio star revealed that he had taken a 20 per cent pay cut this June amid the recession, saying: 'I want to work at the BBC, which is trying to save some of its gazillions.'

On September 7, 2009 Moyles became Radio 1's longest serving breakfast presenter, breaking the record previously set by Tony Blackburn.

Last night, a Radio 1 spokeswoman insisted no plans had yet been made for Moyles’ departure, nor his replacement, saying: 'There is absolutely no truth in this.'